SPRINGFIELD, NJ — Backyard Heroes Fireworks, located on Route 22 in Springfield, has family fun for all. In addition to an assortment of fireworks, they also have gender reveal smoke and balloons, smoke, sparklers and much more.
The company recently started doing business as The Party Shop.
Patrick Cyrana began the business with his two partners, Brian Brandt and Josh Nazario – all residents of Union – in 2019. Cyrana has been working with fireworks professionally since 2009. “I have family in Pennsylvania (where they were legal),” he said. “Since I was a young kid, we always passed stores and I asked my dad to stop (for fireworks). Cousins and uncles had a stash.”
Sparklers are the biggest sellers for Backyard Heroes Fireworks; popular for every holiday, according to Cyrana. It also provides advanced pyrotechnics for parties. “There are hundreds of shows on the Fourth,” said Cyrana.
For the past six months, Backyard Heroes Fireworks has been doing business as The Party Shop, because it has been getting into different areas of celebration in the past few years.
“We realized our main customer base are people having a party,” said Cyrana. “They’re getting fireworks to accent their celebration. We have confetti, noisemakers, trick candles; novelty stuff you see around.”
But while people celebrate with fireworks for special occasions, such as Fourth of July or Diwali, people are celebrating with balloons every day. “The past few years, we’ve been getting into higher-end balloons. Our balloons are better quality, unlike Chinese no-name brands. They hold helium for days, can handle temperatures, are more expensive, but we’re twisting them into arches and columns. They are the only ones worth working with. Others are lower quality.”
The sculptured balloons that The Party Shop makes can last for weeks. Christmas trees, Rudolph, The Grinch, Gingerbread houses and mosaics have also been made.
The Party Shop is also renting out bounce houses.
“People are celebrating everything,” said Cyrana.
Nevertheless, fireworks will still be around. And what makes Backyard Heroes Fireworks special is that it’s the only place that sells fireworks year-round. There are other party stores that sell fireworks, but, according to Cyrana, Backyard Heroes Fireworks has more fireworks than any other store in New Jersey.
What’s also important to Cyrana is giving back to the community. “We’re constantly donating tents and bounce houses,” he said. “We paid for Santa and the Grinch to come (and) had refreshments. We like to give back to the community as much as we can. We want to be a local store involved in the community.”
With all the success of Backyard Heroes Fireworks, the business was not without challenges. According to Cyrana, 2024 wasn’t a good year. “It rained in the evening of July 3 and 4,” he said. “A lot of people who checked the forecast didn’t buy fireworks. On Diwali, we had a drought. That killed sales.”
Cyrana says, however, he’d like to expand and offer different locations. He said he wants to “try to work the model we have now and then expand to different parts of New Jersey.”
Visit Backyard Heroes Fireworks at: https://backyardheroesfireworks.com/.
Photos Courtesy of Lori Cyrana